Scientific Method
'' |image= |series= |production=40840-175 |producer(s)= |story= Sherry Klein Harry 'Doc' Kloor |script= Lisa Klink |director=David Livingston |imdbref=tt0708967 |guests=Rosemary Forsyth as Alzen, Annette Helde as Takar |previous_production=The Raven |next_production=Year of Hell Part 1 |episode=VGR S04E07 |airdate=29 October 1997 |previous_release=(VGR) The Raven (Overall) Favor the Bold |next_release=(VGR) Year of Hell Part 1 (Overall) Sacrifice of Angels |story_date(s)=51244.3 (2374) |previous_story= The Raven The Raven |next_story= Year of Hell Part 1 You Are Cordially Invited }} =Summary= The crew of Voyager note that Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres have become intimately involved, while other crew report of small maladies to the Doctor, such as Captain Janeway, who has been suffering excruciating headaches. The crew initially attribute these problems to effects of a nearby stellar phenomenon, and continue on as they appear benign. Over a matter of hours, Chakotay is aged several decades, losing his hair and going blind. Neelix suffers spots over his body and emits a strange odor. The Doctor and Torres finds that both have had their DNA stimulated by an external force, and discovers alien writing imprinted on their nucleotides like a barcode. However, before they can run further tests, Torres is overtaken by a seizure and goes into respiratory arrest, and the Doctor's program is shut down. Seven of Nine receives a coded transmission from the Doctor, and she meets him in a holodeck. The Doctor explains that some entity is tagging the crew's DNA to force these mutations, and that the entity has the ability to silence those that come close to the truth. He adjusts Seven's optical scanners to detect outside the normal visual range. Seven starts going about her normal routines and sees a number of aliens, previously unseen, observing many of the crew which are outfitted with strange devices. Seven tries to alert Janeway without arousing suspicion but a female alien is observing Janeway's response to sleep deprivation using needles stuck in her skull. Seven covertly goes to Engineering to arrange for an energy discharge that the Doctor thinks will disable the DNA imprints. Tuvok detects Seven's tampering and orders her to cease and desist, attracting the attention of nearby alien observers. Left with no choice, Seven uses a phaser to disrupt the nearest alien's cloaking technology, making her visible, and captures her. Janeway accosts the alien about what they have been doing. The alien callously responds that their experiments are for medical research and could be of benefit to everyone in the galaxy. She even draws parallels to research done by humans on living rodents and primates. In exchange for their 'service', the lead researcher agrees to share whatever data they gather. Taking the Borg's favorite position, however, the researcher arrogantly states that there really isn't anything that they can do since they've learned enough about Voyager to thwart any attempts to stop them. Back on the bridge, a helmsman dies as a result of the experiments. Angered and slightly unstable, Janeway takes the helm and sets Voyager on a course to fly between binary stars at full speed. The lead alien fails to regain helm control and then threatens to kill the crew. Janeway explains that she's running an experiment of her own to see if Voyager's hull will crack if flown between the binary stars. She invites the aliens to stay and watch as there is a small chance that they won't all be killed. The aliens choose to leave and beam themselves to two cloaked ships parked on the ship's hull. Both ships detach, but only one survives the gravitational forces. Voyager barely survives its trip between the two stars. The Doctor is restored and he helps to remove the various devices and DNA imprints, returning the affected crew to normal. However, Paris and Torres, whose hormones were altered to heighten physical attraction, continue to become close friends after the affair. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Cableface on Saturday, December 05, 1998 - 12:16 pm: Just how did Chakotay become normal again? Sure, he ages unnaturally quickly, but he still ages. And yet he's fine afterwards. Does this mean that the doctor can reverse aging in anyone? Omer on Sunday, December 06, 1998 - 1:02 am: Stranger things have happened. Alas not often # BrianB on Monday, July 26, 1999 - 1:21 am: The Doctor and Seven were in the holodeck hiding from the scientists. Doc wished to adjust 7's eye implant, her sensory nodes, so she can see them. He asks the computer for a type-4 micro-inducer and does the task. This is a holographic type-4 micro-inducer. Can it really function just like a holographic phaser with safeties off? Wouldn't his efforts disappear when she leaves the holodeck? Maybe it can work like a real tool and so there's no nit. I think the doctor should've gotten the micro-inducer via the replicator, or just use a very fine screwdriver like Janeway did in Hope and Fear. Stephen on Monday, January 24, 2000 - 12:57 pm: When the doc asks for a micro-inducer the computer sent him a real one not a holographic one. Plenty of real things can be brought into the holodeck. Jocko on Monday, January 24, 2000 - 4:33 pm: Sure it's a real micro-inducer, until you try to remove it from the holodeck. Just like the tables, paintings, people. cableface on Wednesday, January 26, 2000 - 2:19 pm: Even if it was holographic, that doesn't mean the effects would disappear. Let's say a drunken brawl breaks out at the holodeck resort, and somebody "bottles" Neelix (without the hindrance of safety interlocks of course).I doubt the cuts and bruises would disappear when he walked out of the holodeck. # KAM on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 4:32 am: In the NextGen episode The Next Phase, Geordi, Ro and a Romulan were coming and going from the Enterprise because they were out of phase. In Phantasams interphasic creatures had infested the ship and were literally eating the crew alive. Now, given these two incidents, don't you think that Starfleet would come up with some kind of sensor to detect phased organisms? Granted Voyager was able to detect the presence of the Voth in Distant Origin, but, as this episode shows, a regular scan for phased organisms is not a normal procedure. (The cloaking device from The Pegasus had the ability to phase objects. Would it be so hard to adapt it to detect phased objects?) It was probably deemed impractical. # B'Elanna takes off her comm badge, then folds her hand over it, So why didn't the badge chirp when her fingers touched the front? It couldn't be that taking it off deactivates it because there are many times when comm badges have been removed and still active. Jwb52z on Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 3:32 pm: You have to actually press it for it to activate. Category:Episodes Category:Voyager